THE power of social media has reunited a family with their pet tortoise.

Nikki Upton was looking after her mum’s pet tortoise Freddy while she was on holiday, however on Monday, Freddy decided to go on an adventure and went missing.

Panicked, Nikki frantically searched for Freddy in a bid to find her mother’s much-loved pet, when her neighbour Margaret Marcroft posted on the social media page Brighton Hill Nextdoor, when someone responded that a man had posted about finding a tortoise.

Dave Butcher was walking with his son on Tuesday in the field behind Asda in Brighton Hill and found Freddy walking along.

He picked him up and took him home and posted on Facebook and various other social media sites.

Freddy had walked between 400 and 600metres from where Nikki lives when he was discovered.

Nikki said: “After sending Dave photos of Freddy and his measurements, Dave confirmed it was him and I met up with Dave after he finished work at 11.15pm on Tuesday and picked up Freddy.

“Freddy certainly had an adventure and it just shows the powers of social media, without that, Freddy would still be missing.”

“Thank you to everyone involved - I’m forever grateful to my neighbour for posting that Freddy was missing, to the person who replied after seeing Dave’s post and to Dave for finding Freddy and looking after him.”